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The death of Pop Smoke marked the loss of one of the most important young rappers to emerge in the past few years. He emerged as a child of drill music but his trajectory aimed towards global superstar. Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon cemented that, even if the rapper wasn’t here to bask in the glory of the album’s success.

This week, the second posthumous album by Pop Smoke arrived. Faith is stacked with 20 songs in total including collaborations from artists like Chris Brown, Kanye West, and Rick Ross. Future also appears for the single, “Mr. Jones.” A visual treatment for the single was released after the album dropped. The music video is a compilation of footage from Pop’s outing in Miami where he’s seen performing on stage, popping bottles, and surrounded by women. Then, Future pops in where he actually performing his part of the song on a pink couch, surrounded by a model and a masked friend next to him. 

Check out the video above. 

Davido has a penchant for making summer anthems, as do Young Thug and Chris Brown — individually and as a duo. So, when you bring all three artists together, you’re bound to have a hit on your hands. Last year, the three artists teamed up on Davido’s album, A Better Time, for the track, “Shopping Spree.” Now, all three of them have reconnected for the song’s official music video. The summery vibe reflects summer love as a young man pursues a woman while his friends serve as his hypemen on the sidelines. Thug delivers his performance in an art class while painting a young model. Breezy joins the three for a night-time summer party, perfectly fitting the vibe of the song.

Whether you had it on rotation last summer or not, “Shopping Spree” is aiming to take on summer 2021 with the release of its new music video.

Check it out above. 

Today marks the arrival of our new How To Roll episode, featuring an appearance from Fenix Flexin. Fresh off the release of his debut mixtape, a self-titled project featuring Drakeo The Ruler, D-Block Europe, and more, the longtime smoker took a few moments to share some of his weed experiences. 

When it comes to the strain of choice, Flexin lays out his preference of the day. “We got Potato Runtz and we got some Trufflez,” he explains. “Shout out to both of them.” He also reveals that he favors smoking Indica for one big reason in particular. “Sativa doesn’t really get me high like that,” he reveals.

As fans of the series have come to learn, not all rappers are equal when it comes to rolling ability. Off the bat, Fenix admits that he’s far from the best roller in his crew. “I don’t even be rolling the best blunts,” he says. “I don’t roll for others, I roll for myself. Long as that muthafucka smoke, shit, it’s cool. I’d put 3.5 in that bitch if I knew how to roll it like that, but I don’t know how to roll it like that.”

Image via HNHH

As per tradition, Fenix strolls down memory lane to recount his first time smoking. “It was with some of my little patnahs,” he recalls. “We had just gotten off from school, went over to they block. We were going to get high and go get Shamrock Shakes at McDonalds. I had already been bullshittin, stealing cigarettes, but that was my first time smoking weed. I didn’t just–” he mimics a weak inhale. “N***a was packing that apple.” 

He also remembers the most he’s ever smoked in one sitting, taking us back to a fateful 4/20 in 2009. “I was just putting in hella blunts,” he says with a smirk. “N***a came in with a volcano bag. We were smoking every way you can think of smoking. One of the homies pulled up with with an ounce of some fire OG. At the time, that shit was gas. N***as was tore back, noodles knocked! We was faded, cooking and shit. One of the homies passed out.”

When asked about edibles, Fenix notes that he recently stopped using opiates. “I was using them for a year and a half, two years,” he says. “But I’m damn near four months sober. Edibles help you sleep when you going through shit like that. If any of you–I know n***as going through them withdrawals, get you an edible, you’ll be alright. 

For more from Fenix Flexin, check out the full episode of How To Roll right here. 

Image via HNHH

We’re back with another installment of Snack Review, this time with California’s very own Drakeo The Ruler. The Los Angeles rapper has been hard at work preparing for his next release So Cold I Do Em 2, a follow-up to his 2016 release, which he recently shared will arrive in September. As fans await the album, Drakeo caught up with us to put a few snacks to the test as he was presented with several chips and candies that he’s never tried before.

He kicked things off with Japanese KitKats that he believed were white chocolate and wasn’t too impressed as he gave them a six out of 10 rating. Drakeo was excited for the Koikeya Karamucho hot chili chips that he said tasted “like noodles,” and although he called the Japanese snack “weird,” he continued to eat them while laughing about the soup-like flavor.

Next up was the traditional Japanese candy Botan Rice, and after struggling to get it out of the wrapper, Drakeo The Ruler quickly gave the candy a score of “zero.” There were several funny moments when Drakeo couldn’t tell what the snacks actually were, including what he believed were chocolate-covered grapes. The Pop Rocks Easter Bunny Chocolate threw Drakeo for a loop because after he bit into it, he scared himself when he thought he saw something moving inside. He had to laugh at himself for that one.

Watch Drakeo The Ruler taste test delectables from around the world above and make sure to stay tuned for the second part of his Snack Review in upcoming days.

New York rapper J.I. is back with a new single and music video titled “Morning.” 

The video for the song, directed by Austin McCracken, sees J.I. traveling throughout his home city with a girlfriend as he sings about the difficulties of turbulent relationships.

“We’ve all been in this position before,” J.I. said of the song, in a press release. “I wanted to speak from my perspective about how I’m being played and manipulated and wanted to make a catchy song out of something painful. I feel like I was able to execute what I wanted to do.”

J.I.’s last track, “No Hook,” was released back in June.

If you want to catch J.I. live, he’ll be going on tour this Fall. Check out the dates below.

July 24 Miami, FL Rolling Loud Miami
Sep 14 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Small’s Theater
Sep 15 Philadelphia, PA TLA
Sep 16 New York, NY Irving Plaza
Sep 18 Washington, DC Union Stage
Sep 19 Charlotte, NC The Underground
Sep 22 Fort Lauderdale, FL Revolution
Sept 23 TBD TBD
Sep 24 Atlanta, GA The Loft
Sep 26 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
Sep 27 Dallas, TX Trees
Sep 29 Phoenix , AZ Rebel Lounge
Sep 30 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex
Oct 02 Santa Ana, CA Constellation Room
Oct 03 Berkeley, CA Cornerstone
Oct 04 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s SOLD OUT
Oct 06 Seattle, WA Neumos
Oct 10 Denver, CO Cervante’s Other Side
Oct 11 Lincoln, NB Bourbon Theater
Oct 13 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
Oct 14 Milwaukee, WI The Rave II
Oct 15 Chicago, IL Avondale Music Hall
Oct 17 Detroit, MI Shelter
Oct 18 Toronto, ON Opera House
Oct 19 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
Oct 21 Buffalo, NY TBD
Oct 22 Providence, RI The Strand
Oct 23 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
Oct 24 New Haven, CT Toad’s Place
Oct 30 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom

It’s been over six months since 21 Savage and Metro Boomin finally reconnected for the long-awaited sequel to 2016’s Savage Mode. This time, it became even bigger and better than the first time they connected. Filled with high-profile features and massive production, they’ve continued to carry the album out like a Hollywood affair, especially when it comes down to the visuals.

Metro and 21 Savage just dropped off a music video for the single, “Brand New Draco.” The two rappers carry themselves like Ball Street bosses in the midst of a stock crash before introducing their own stock: $DRCO. The middle of the video is interrupted by an informercial for $DRCO which appears to have gotten everyone rich, including DJ Khaled, Shaq, and Bow Wow who professes that he doesn’t need to “fake the funk ever again.”

Peep the music video for “Brand New Draco” above. Check out our review of Savage Mode II here.

Polo G might have one of the best rap releases of the year. The rapper’s official debut album dropped earlier this year and proved that he’s just as much of a star as everyone believed he would be. Hall Of Fame was an excellent debut from the Chicago native and he’s continuing to push the album’s campaign. This week, he returned with a new music video for the single, “Toxic.” Appropriate for a post-pandemic world, the rapper is back outside with his boys in his new music video.

Even with his album out, the rapper does have more music on the way. Funk Flex recently previewed a remix to King Von’s “Lurkin” which includes an additional verse from Polo G.

Peep his latest music video for “Toxic” above. 

Cochise is not with all the flexing… yet. Once he starts seeing more of the money being made from his hit singles “Tell Em” featuring $NOT and “Hatchback,” the Jamaican-born rapper might start hitting up the designer store and showing out. For now though, he’s emptying out the contents of his Armani satchel and telling us all about his daily necessities on the latest episode of In My Bag.

The rising artist is definitely a pretty funny guy, as you’ll see in the video. He starts off by showing the camera his Airpods, which are his second pair after losing the last. He keeps them safe in a bootleg Yeezy Boost 350 case, which he specifies was bought from Amazon Prime, and not through Kanye. Then, he stunts with his inhaler, his mom’s Honda car keys, his wallet (which he bought from Ross), and his teeth.

This is a pretty short episode of In My Bag, but it’s also one of the most entertaining. Cochise is a funny character.

Watch the new episode of In My Bag above and let us know who you’d like to see on the series next. While you’re here, check out Cochise’s debut project Benbow Crescent here.

Vince Staples is fresh off of the release of his new self-titled album. It’s the rapper’s first body of work in upwards of three years since dropping FM! It’s a succinct 10-songs in total that was led by the singles, “Law Of Averages” and “Are You With That?” The latter served as the second single of the project and now, has a brand new set of visuals. The artsy music video for “Are You With That?” captures cinematic shots of Vince Staples taking on the roles of people in his own neighborhood. It’s a Vince Staples world, literally.

The rapper recently spoke to Cultured Magazine about his new album. He explained that he largely tried to offer some sort of “clarity” for the listeners in terms of his own story.

“I’ve heard a lot of peers saying, ‘We want to know more about you,’ even though these topics are things that I’ve said before on previous projects,” he said. “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it, type shit. I’ve figured out how to make sure my music is on the right canvases that translate easily. You shouldn’t have to know rocket science to be able to listen to a song and appreciate it. I feel like I was going for difficulty more than understanding at a certain point. This is like a clarity moment for the listeners.” 

Peep his new music video above. 

KB Mike is one of the newest signees to Republic Records via Cinematic Music Group, unveiling more layers of his personality for the latest episode of Top 5s. 

The Chicago-based recording artist has been rising up for a few years, clocking in over 227,000 monthly listeners on Spotify at the time of this publication. As he continues to open eyes to his brand, KB Mike sat down for a new episode of one of our most popular series, listing off some of his favorite things on Top 5s.

He starts off by naming the best things to do in Chicago, revealing that he always has a good time at Dave and Buster’s, the roller skate rinks downtown, Lake Shore Drive, and more. He went on to name his top cereals and more before calling out his best songs to date and a list of people he would like to collaborate with.

Polo G was Mike’s number-one choice to collaborate, saying, “His voice, you can kind of hear his pain and everything he’s saying. And he’s from Chicago, so that’s dope.” He also name-dropped Toosii, Lil Tjay, Rod Wave, and Rylo Rodriguez as potential collabs.

When it got time to name his top five industry crushes, KB Mike apologized to his girlfriend and said he didn’t want to get in trouble before showing love to Cuban Doll, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and Mariah Carey.

Watch the full episode of Top 5s with KB Mike above and let us know who you want to see on this series next.